An 18 year old film director, Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong won the audience Golden Lotus Bud Award prize for her documentary film "Back to childhood", in the biggest competition for Vietnamese young film-makers.

 Young director Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong

Phuong said that when she was in 11th grade, the Centre for Assistance and Development of Movie Talents (TPD) came to her school to talk about a movie making. She decided to join the 10 days course.

At first, Phuong thought documentary film-making was very boring, as they often focused on the country’s wars or travel and were hard to capture the attention of young people. But the genre grew on her.

"Back to Childhood" was actually her graduate submission. To finish the film, Phuong had to remake the documentary several times before she was happy with it.

It talks about family life, inner thoughts, misunderstandings and quarrels between parents and children. She especially focused on the psychology of a boy who was loved by his parents but he couldn’t feel that love.

Phuong even recorded her own family’s daily lives for some key scenes.

When the Golden Lotus Bud Award 2012 opened, TPD encouraged her to apply and she won the a top prize. Since then, Phuong has concentrated on her next project.

The good news continued when "Back to childhood" was nominated for the International YxineFF Competition. She was also asked to represent Vietnam at a cultural exchange in the US.

Phuong said she is quite nostalgic and likes old things, including old songs, Hanoian lifestyles from the past, Chaplin movies and Michael Moore's documentaries.

She intends to go to the US to continue media studies in the future.

"Back to Childhood" poster